Tonight on my commute home three motorcycles pulled up next to me, then the leader pulled on his throttle and they were off. Initially they pulled along side me to see if I would join them in the game of dodge car, I didn’t join but I was going fast enough to keep them as they played. As I saw them ride, I could tell they weren’t very skilled, just some guys out for a quick adrenaline fix; what I also saw was a reckless unawareness for the consequences of life over 80mph. Not five minutes after we shared lanes and glances from behind our face shields I saw every break light ahead of me come on as the motorcycle clipped a car, flipped crashed and the body tumbled like a rag doll. Normally these things don’t affect me much, but today everyone I spoke to told me to drive safe or be careful on the road, that along with stopping to see this lifeless man on his back losing his grip on the world made me think. It made me think about how lucky I am, my luck is the appreciation for my life. I am thankful for having someone as perfect and beautiful as I do to come home to everyday knowing she loves me, having our dogs and our birds happy to see us everyday, these simple joys make me lucky, they make me rich and they make me know what is at steak every time I take a drive. At first my hands were shaking with adrenaline, I was in a state of euphoria and lost in the thought of that could have been me. The man that crashed well I hope he lived but he was in rough shape, I left only when EMS arrived but I could feel the gravity of guilt on his friend’s shoulders, they knew why it was him there on the ground and not them and they looked at me with shame. The man’s choice was to try to impress them just like he tried to impress me when he pulled up along side me to see if I reacted, in a moment of reflection I realized that all the things I have now are real because I never tried to impress them.  The woman I love knows that everything I do comes from my heart and not from some shallow need to impress her or anyone, maybe that’s why I’m not lying on the pavement bleeding internally or maybe it’s because I’m too lucky to let this wonderful life I have go. Whatever the case may be I am living the dream and my motorcycle as dangerous as it is, brings me home safe to my family everyday.

I love my life, I love my superhero girlfriend and our zoo. Look twice and check for motorcycles and please don’t text while you drive because for at least one second on every drive we the motorcyclists are invisible to you. 

 

Go ride a bike.

The end of the world If we could predict the weather or even the mathematical randomness of the lottery, maybe then I’d believe it ends when everyone is guessing it will. The truth is the world is ending but it will end at different times for everyone, so please spare me the cardboard signs that warn me of the end I’d much rather see signs that can help like, stock investment tips or ideas for a lunch date with my girlfriend. Not arbitrary guesses about the end being near or far, I don’t really care when the end is because I think we can just watch on DVD or tivo if we miss it the first time. The reality of it is that people like to talk about the end for the same reason they are interested in death, mystery. True unknowable mystery, what lies out there after this world and this life that we know? That’s the only reason we read books, watch movies or sift through meaningless web pages, we are creatures that thirst for answers. We like resolution, we like closure, even if we don’t comprehend what we should do with it. Today’s lesson is simple: live as if the world is in fact ending and embrace your mortality on this planet, travel, live, smile, and truly taste what this world has to offer us other than predictions about its end. There can be no end if we don’t even yet understand its beginning.

You have to risk losing everything to win it all; the problem is most people are more afraid of actually winning than they’d like to admit. Most people will tell you that they are doing what they can to achieve victory but the truth is they aren’t. As they “try to get to their intended goal” they do self-defeating things that either sabotage their “goal” or just make things more complicated than they have to be.

The secret to life is: Don’t complicate things and don’t sweat the small stuff.

But you already knew this didn’t you? If you did then why the hell aren’t you appreciating all of the good things that are already in your life instead of putting obstacles in the way?

Next time you feel a bit overwhelmed just remember if you don’t drown your pancakes in syrup you’re afraid to live. People that use only enough syrup for every bite are people you should avoid.

This is life don’t squander the good things you have with worries and complaints about how they could be better; there isn’t better it’s all the same just with different packaging inside we’re all blood, pee, vomit, and made up worries.

So thank the people who help you and avoid the ones that are trying to take things form you, real or imagined. And love the ones that love you even when you spill pancake syrup on their pancakes or vomit on their parade.

 

This is your life and it’s good until you make it anything less.

 

 

 

Debris hits me in the ribs and momentarily takes my breath away. There’s nothing like it in the world; lose your breath, but never your grip or the motorcycle will never return you to a place you like to call home.

I can see the fear in your eyes, as I stare blankly at you from behind the visor of my helmet I can only think, your worries are the sprinkles on my doughnut.

Fear is the pollution that clogs the drain of creativity and if you don’t take deep enough breaths you’ll drown at the shallow end of the bathtub.

Eventually I regain my breath in time to dodge another mindless traffic drone, split second decisions that make every breath feel like a fresh box of crayons facing the blank page of possibility. A blur in your vision is a star burning bright in another dimension; today is your chance to do things like you mean them. Do things with the hope that they will last forever, jump over the edge and take the risk that failure wasn’t invited to this party otherwise you’ll never succeed at anything but undermining yourself. 

Buy yourself some breathing room and make something awesome happen by risking it all, because you never know when debris might hit you and take away your chance forever if you're not ready to hold on.

 

Today I am on location shooting a New VW spot so I decided to share two of my old ones.

 

 

 

For the past few years there have been many projects and many times i have failed to post them because I've been busy with either writing, shooting, alchemy, or hunting adventure in a far off land. Today I share with you two projects that will be melting your mind or rattling your brain in some shape or another sooner or later. 

the movie trailer

the music video 

 

I haven’t blogged in a while but today I felt the need for sharing in hopes of getting some of you Interneters fighting for the things that matter in life, so here’s the first entry in my return form a busy off season from blogging. Yes I missed all of you just a little bit. Today I buried my cat she was 14 years old. As I dug into the earth I knew all of the soil that I tore from the ground would never return into the hole I dug. There’s a moment that you realize that earth is displaced as life moves away from this level of life. When you bury granddad, mom, your friends, or anything you knew in life physical earth moves away from where it once rested in place waiting for them to take their place. Maybe this is sad or maybe it’s wonderful but the dead return to the place they originated from; during their life they were only refugees of the dirt, walking above it waiting for their ultimate return. There is a relief I felt when I placed this cat, my friend into the earth as if she did her time and now it was time for her to say goodbye to me, she took her final nap at the base of my car where she knew I’d find her. As I showered her with earth I could think nothing but to appreciate the thing I have while I am lucky enough to have them, the cat I appreciated while she was alive and I think she loved me when she wasn’t trying to break my heart. Today I am thankful for the people I have in my life that like the cat are special in my life and I enjoy putting smiles on their faces and making them purr with delight. I am not sad because this is a natural phase in life, I will miss her but she will live forever in my memory as all of my other pets and people that I’ve lost always do they are eternal in my memory despite the fact that I have buried many in my life and I miss them all but I live with their smiles on my face. I wish you all a good night and stay tuned as I return to blogging here at the end of the internet with new adventures that will make you appreciate life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

 

 

-Smoke blanketed my thoughts of breathing with the thick veil of the desperate architecture that sympathizes with Russian spies. My face was filling quickly with the neon light of another night in the streets of an unforgiving city. With a buttoned up shirt and khaki courage every step into the office seemed much more staged and pathetic than the previous; I was watching a television drama without the lovely commercial breaks for Snuggies, adult diapers and Pinesol, this was a mild calamity waiting to die. There is something outstanding about losing your mind but keeping your composure, this I have found to be the difference between idiots and lesser idiots. Somewhere amidst the pocket lint of my observations I could feel the stale confusion of the corporate agenda staring me blankly in the eyes, again. Today was the second Monday of the week and tomorrow would be Friday so it was time for me to pay some bills and call it a day before the sun set on another daytime television drama. Imagine the look on my face when I decided I was more interested in having lunch than watching paint dry on the faces of the headless tornado of the corporate world.

smile like you mean it.